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Dani Pacheco is not the problem!

I remember a season or two ago when the EOTK community asked, begged and implored that Krisztian Nemeth be given a chance to prove his worth in the first team. Did he get his chance? No! If everyone slams Arsene Wenger for his antics or constant criticism of anything that goes against him, there is one thing no one can doubt him for: the ability to turn potential talents into top football stars. Do I need to list examples? No, I don’t think I need or have to, because you all know whom I am referring too.

Whenever Rafa Benitez fielded a player from the reserve team, it was generally a case of force majeure more than an audacious and sincere attempt to break them into first team football. Roy Hodgson never got the chance to show us his policy in this regard as the team was so abysmal during his reign that there was no real time to experiment.

Since Kenny took over we have seen the successful deployment of Martin Kelly on the right flank on a regular basis. Some will argue that this too was a case of force majeure, as a disastrous stint from Konchesky and the relative unreliability of injury-prone Aurelio, forced Kenny to field Glen Johnson on the left which automatically opened the door to Kelly on the right! So the question is, if Johnson stays and the Reds buy a real-deal left back, will Kelly still be a first choice pick? Again some will argue: why not promote Johnson to right wing and leave Kelly to guard the right back position. Certainly doable but we are not the Manager!

Now back to Dani Pacheco! Is he talented? Yes! Is he mature enough to be a first team regular? We will never know unless we give him a run of games and let him work his magic. Ultimately there is nothing wrong with either Pacheco or any of the up and coming stars we have waiting in the wings. At this moment in time, Kenny is more concerned at placing the team as high up the table as possible to try and salvage whatever he can from what was nothing short of doomsday!

Kenny knows what talent we have brewing, more than anyone else perhaps. If he is confirmed Manager (as is everyone’s hope but is not yet confirmed by the ownership), we will see who will be elected to break into the first team to promote our own or whether yet again it will be a case of fielding our hidden talent only when there is no other alternative. It’s a case of a balancing act between policy and trying to achieve results as soon as possible.

i havent seen too much of pacheco to comment on whether he is good or not but if the lad is a sub in most games but never gets a call just tells u somethin we fans dont know.i guess wel hav to wait til summer to find out if hes in kennys plans.one thing we fans can agree on is the high number of average players in our squad with blotted wages.thats why we lost at prague.joe cole has hinted of an exit plan and i wish he goes together wit aurelio,jovanovic,maxi,poulsen,konchesky,ngog….

Do you know who gave Martin Kelly his debut? Hint: it’s not Kenny Dalglish. Also on his debut, despite playing very very well with the said coach lauding his efforts he was injured on his debut and out for weeks, by which time the campaign had deteriorated.

About Benitez not bringing in kids, remember we used to have a kiddie left back who had a high number of assists.

@ drexler. If you were referring to me friend I never said Kenny gave Martin Kelly his debut. What I did say was that he gave him a run of games which no other manager gave him, and I also added that it might have been because Johnson was deployed on the left.

Pacheco is a good player but should be loaned out for 12 months. If we gave all these young players a chance and didn’t work out and we lost, you’d be first to give out about the squad and the lack of depth in the squad. lucas/meireles/suarez/carroll/cole/kuyt etc will not be dropped to accommate pacheco. With further signing in the summer to push the club forward the like of pacheco/spearing/ ngog/ will not make it. we need quality like young/benzama/cahill/sissoko etc to push this team forward.

I would rather have Pacheco than that untalented, brain dead, massively overrated moron Dik Kuyt. because this muppet got on the end of all the work done by Suarez people think he’s great. HE’S F***ING GARBAGE. Look at how many attacks break down because this clown is devoid of the basic footballing ability, recieve, control and pass the bloody ball to someone from the same team. He is possibly (along with ngog) one of the worst players it has been my misfortune to watch sine Sean Dundee.

Agree with Paul, I think Liverpool fans have a bias to ‘hard workers’ to the extent that an entire team of grafters (which we seem to have at the moment) is sufficient. All I am asking for is hard workers who know how to control the bloody ball. Look at barca’s midfield and forward line, they all work hard at getting the ball back but they hardly ever lose it in the first place because no one out there has a touch anywhere NEAR as bad as Dirk Kuyts. In my opinion if Pacheco Suso and Sterling started against Braga we would have looked a much more complete football side.

@david suarez, I know you mean well, but saying that Pacheco should be loaned out because he is not proven or too weak for the premier league? blah blah blah, heard it all before, negative nineties football mindset. If that happens to him, than it will be like with Nemeth, talented striker, who becomes a hero at another club and doesn’t want to come back to Liverpool where he knows he won’t get a chance. What you are missing out on is the next Gerrard, and we will forever be one of those clubs that only play 25+ year olds we have bought or brainwashed large English 21 year olds who finally get a chance (because they are English and big) and when the team fails to create chances with them, everyone decides we need to BUY more talent.

Kenny seems to know what he is doing, and I know that this season is now damage control, so I really hope that next year Kenny makes a statement and starts playing Pacheco, Suso, and Sterling. I know that suso and Sterling are about sixteen, but so what? 2-0 up bring them on for ten. They have ball control and awareness of the game, which I’d pick any day over Large players that control the ball with their shins. Heres to next season YNWA

@Paul. Do you ever watch games for 90mins or god forbid ever get to Anfield?? If you do then you be blind or simply incredibly thick and have the knowledge of an ant about football if you think Dirk isn’t worth a place in the starting 11 and is a “untalented, brain dead, massively overrated moron”. He might not have the best first touch or the finishing of a world class striker but in terms of effort, work rate and on field intelligence (hint: it’s not luck that he find himself in the right place at the right time to score simple goals!!!) then he’s one of most important players. Of course everyone is allowed their own opinion but to come out whih such total rubbish is incredible. One of the first players on the team sheet under Rafa and Kenny and not to mention the 2 recent Dutch national team managers. But hey, what do they know compared to your knowledge, insightful and well thought through judgement of footballing ability. Stick to playing FIFA on your games console, reading the tabloids and watching highlights on MOTD but leave constructive debate to grown ups.

The time to play a youngster is when you are 3-0 up early in a match and can bring them on to rest a few of the regulars. The problem has been that in recent seasons we have rarely had the luxury of being a few goals up in a game, hence why not many youngsters have been given a chance.
Football is a results business not a youth training scheme, so first priority for any manager is to get the result, then maybe think about the future. What will help will be an attacking philosophy with the strongest 11 on the pitch from the start, then maybe we may have more games that are put to bed in the first half.

First of all: Dirk Kuyt is a fantastic player, when he’s got quality around him. His first few seasons at Liverpool, and his long run for the national team proves that. It is pretty easy to come down on him after matches like Braga, and make him guilty of all that’s bad in LFC. In matches where he has to be the prime goal scorer or the creative force, he will not be a success. When people like Sneijder, Gerrard, Suarez, Alonso etc can be the creative force and Torres, Van Nistelrooy, Huntelaar etc can be the prime goal maker, then you will see a Kuyt that allows the fullbacks to attack, he allows the forwards to attack with less fear for breaks, and he will both provide and score goal simply with his football smartness. BTW; for a Liverpool supporter to name their on players moron, clown and so on is not worthy.

Second: @Tonio Bone: There are numbers of players who are fantastic at reserve levels, but don’t have what it takes to become a star i top Premier League side. Nemeth was a interesting talent, but in the end he proved not be brilliant in Greece(and probably not in training with the first-team), and therefore he was sold(and it was not a matter of him not wanting to return to Liverpool as someone suggested above).

Rafa Benitez used Daniel Ayala, Emiliano Insua, Martin Kelly, Lucas Leiva, Dani Pacheco(on a few occations), David N’Gog and Jay Spearing. Pacheco could have been used more, but he didn’t really impress when he got his chances. I will say, for a club almost without an academy(there was a big gap between Kirkby and Melwood before Rafa got his contract), this is a pretty good number. His rebuilding of the Academy shows his determin to develop younger prospects.

Roy Hodgson let the youngsters play Northampton, but he punched down and spat on them in his post-game interviews. That really shows his ability to develop young players.

Kenny have used Martin Kelly as a regular, he has continued with Lucas Leiva, Danny Wilson has started on a few occations, so has Jay Spearing, and Jonjo Shelvey got a couple of chances before he got injured. Dani Pacheco will probably get opportunities with Gerrard on the sideline.

As a manager of Liverpool Football Club you can’t give a player a run of games, just so you can see if he is good enough. Peter Gulacsi, Gerardo Bruna, Nikola Saric etc should they get a run of games so that we can se wether they are good enough or not? What about Jovanovic? I see the shades in this allegation, but the point is as clear as the sun. You don’t get many chances in todays football. Håvard Nordtveit at Arsenal was due to start versus Tottenham a couple of years ago, but was injured during the warm-up and now he plays in 2. Bundesliga(I think). That was his chance. If Pacheco gets 3 chances this season and is sold in the summer, then you can’t say he didn’t get enough time on the pitch. Patience just don’t exist in todays football!

I didn’t agree with this article, but really think you have good site hear, and the follow to EOTK on Twitter is one of the best i ever did. So keep up the good work!

Until today, I still believe in Benitez. He is more of Shankly style of manager. But before his effort bears fruit, he was sacked due to his bad temper in mouth watering argument with the 2 yuck yankies. Don’t forget what he did with Valencia. He beats Barca n R.Madrid with a team full of youngsters but he jus lack the ttime.